Rehousing milipedes with Young and question about isopods

Hi there

I have a Colony of milipedes, centrobolus splendidus. They are in quite a small tank and I would like to rehouse them in a bigger tank. I have just gone through a bit of the substrate and found some babies I also know that some of the adults are moulding? but they do this allmost all the time, so it will be allmost impossible not to disturb them.

Is the best option to set up the new tank with fresh substrate and move the old substrate with babies into the new tank? I have read that it is very important for the young to have old substrate, which have been partly digested by adults? What to do if I find moulding adults? I cant see any at the moment, but I bet some are burried in the middle. Scoop them up in a spoon with some old substrate and gently hide them in the new tank?

Also, I collect Wood and leaves in the Wild for them and have now some isopods/springtails living in the tank. I'm not quite sure What the difference is between the two ( from Denmark ) so maybe someone could help whether I should consider these a pest or a part of the natural enviroment of the tank by explaining the difference. I only have the option to collect food in the wild and supplement with cucumber etc. as directed, so if these are a pest, how do I avoid them? The milipedes seem indifferent to them and the babies I found seemed fine

Thanks and sorry for any autocorrect errors

Ditte said:

Also, I collect Wood and leaves in the Wild for them and have now some isopods/springtails living in the tank. I'm not quite sure What the difference is between the two ( from Denmark ) so maybe someone could help whether I should consider these a pest or a part of the natural enviroment of the tank by explaining the difference. I only have the option to collect food in the wild and supplement with cucumber etc. as directed, so if these are a pest, how do I avoid them?

Thanks and sorry for any autocorrect errors

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Springtails tend to be quite small, (although the largest springtails are bigger than the smallest isopods) have six legs, and are capable of hopping. They are generally considered safe to keep with millipedes.

Isopods are usually larger than springtails, have fourteen legs (they are terrestrial crustaceans) and crawl or run...they cannot hop. Some people keep them with millipedes without any issues, but others have reported that they attack millipede eggs and/or molting pedes.

The risk of bringing in pests with collected food (wood and leaves) can be minimized by heating them prior to use. The temperatures used by millipedes keepers vary. I put my leaves/wood in the oven for at least half an hour...i have experimented with different temperatures according to the advice of other keepers. As low as 145 F and as least as high as 250 F. I always heat what I collect, and have never had problems with introducing pests.

I hope this helps.

As rehousing goes I always set up the tank I want to move them into first and wait till I see them surface and gently move them from the current tank to the new one. I find this eliminates hurting the ones molting below the surface and reduces a lot of the stress on your millipedes.

Excellent! Thank you both for that. It is definately isopods I have then. Though having read alot about milipedes and housing, I have not read about heating leaves and wood - will definately incorporate that in the future.
I will set up the new tank and gradually move the active animals into it over time - hadn't thought of that solution

Ditte said:

Excellent! Thank you both for that. It is definately isopods I have then. Though having read alot about milipedes and housing, I have not read about heating leaves and wood - will definately incorporate that in the future.
I will set up the new tank and gradually move the active animals into it over time - hadn't thought of that solution

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Yea I learned that the hard way I killed my poor flameleg millipede by digging in the substrate a year or so ago. Needless to say I don't dig no matter how bad the temptation is! So I slowly filter them from one tank to the new tank! Good luck with your wonderful millipede if you decide to sell any down the road make sure to tell me!

wastedwoodsman said:

Yea I learned that the hard way I killed my poor flameleg millipede by digging in the substrate a year or so ago. Needless to say I don't dig no matter how bad the temptation is! So I slowly filter them from one tank to the new tank! Good luck with your wonderful millipede if you decide to sell any down the road make sure to tell me!

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As you're filtering the millipedes do you also filter the substrate? That way some of the old substrate gets mixed in with the new stuff. The less substrate you have to deal with, the more likely you'll be able to see the pedes since they'll have less substrate to crawl through. Granted, that opens up the possibility of disturbing molting individuals, so it may not be the best idea. I'm just curious since I'll be getting some millipedes of my own soon. I got tired of caring for the ones in my university's insectary and decided I needed a few of my own

I house my millipedes with Isopoda just make sure the Isopoda don't overcrowd

pannaking22 said:

As you're filtering the millipedes do you also filter the substrate? That way some of the old substrate gets mixed in with the new stuff. The less substrate you have to deal with, the more likely you'll be able to see the pedes since they'll have less substrate to crawl through. Granted, that opens up the possibility of disturbing molting individuals, so it may not be the best idea. I'm just curious since I'll be getting some millipedes of my own soon. I got tired of caring for the ones in my university's insectary and decided I needed a few of my own

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I usually don't mix any old substrate with it but you might just to keep some familiar substrate with them to be safe.

Gotcha, that's good to know.

It also depends on the age of your little millipedes. If they are newly hatched i leave them in the same tank for a few months as they lack the bacteria that aids in digestion. Matthewho please PM when you get a moment. Your inbox is full!

This is a long thread:

I dig through the substrate and pick out the millipedes because that is the most efficient process. I have killed millipedes before but its not typical. I lose more from old substrate than digging so I choose the least destructive option, LOL. As in if the substrate needs to be changed digging is far better.
A bit of old substrate usually goes into my containers because it comes from the bucked full of millipedes that I pick out, but I don't add any intentionally.